Category talk:Items
What should be classified as an item? Apparently, due to rarely ever using Template:Item, I actually don't know what are the characteristics that is required of an object for it to be classified as an item. What should the characteristics be, as I'm not really sure, considering the rather irregular spread of articles in the Category:Items category. -- 14:45, January 3, 2014 (UTC) ::Do we even need an items category? It seems very inconsistent. 15:19, January 3, 2014 (UTC) :::Yeah, I agree. Technically, anything could be considered an item! -- 18:35, January 3, 2014 (UTC) ::::I've considered there could be some defining characteristics that distinguish a pickup from an item. In my mind, it mostly had to do with the effects that occur after collecting either. These were my thoughts: ::::A pickup has to be obtainable on screen and is usually a one-time use within the same level. Once collected, its effects take place immediately. Pickups tend to have smaller, insignificant functions, though this is a debatable point. They also cannot be "used". ::::An item, on the other hand, can be obtainable within the level it is in or it can be provided prior to the start of the level/off-level, etc. It can be a one-time use, or it can be carried on to further levels. When an item is collected, it is stored, often in an inventory or other means of storage. It may be automatically equippable, but the key difference here is that the player can choose when the item's effects take place. This is different from a pickup, where the effects are immediate. ::::A heart from the Frost Bite series, for example, would be considered a pickup. When it is collected, it immediately restores any damage that had been inflicted on the climber during that particular level. You don't collect the heart and then decide when to use it. The effects automatically occur, so once you use it, it cannot be replaced. Fruits in Bad Ice-Cream would be considered "pickups" because they don't really have a function except to help complete the level. There's not really a way to "use" them. And point-granting objects, which could range from a cup of tea to coins in Enemy 585 are considered pickups because they contribute to a higher score, but their effects come immediately after picking the object up and not by the player's choice after obtaining. ::::A great example of the classification of items would be pretty much anything that can be bought from the shop in Blast RPG. Purchase an item here, and it gets added to an inventory at the bottom of the screen. When you collect an item in a chest, it gets added to your inventory as well. The player, however, chooses when to use items. If I buy Heal from the shop, I can choose when I want the boy knight to restore his health. This is quite different from sushi lunch in Final Ninja; after collecting it, I cannot choose when I want Takeshi's health to be restored. ::::Weapons, likewise, would be a more specific category within items. Weapons can be collected within the game, but the player chooses when they want to use the weapon to kill the enemies. So if I'm equipped with an axe in Double Edged, I can choose when I want to use this axe to kill enemies. In Nitrome Must Die, there are weapon crates you can pick up that automatically equip you with a weapon, but you choose when you want to fire it. ::::I see our categorization of items wavers at the moment, but I do believe there is a difference between them and that Nitrome has also classified some in-game objects as "items". First and foremost, if Nitrome does refer to a category within some of their games (If I recall, Rainboggedon calls the crates powerups.), then we shall use that categorization. If not, which is usually the case, we'll have to measure it up against our own specified characteristics for categorizing. 06:31, January 4, 2014 (UTC) :::::I agree with your categorization and definition of these two categories. Should I apply them now, or wait for approval from more users? -- 15:10, January 4, 2014 (UTC) (reset indent) Okay, I see what you mean RSK. Time for another category tree! *Items - an obtainable object that can be kept and used at any time **Shop items - an item which is acquired in a shop **Weapons - an item which deals damage to other game elements *Pick-ups - an obtainable object which grants its effects instantaneously **Power-ups - a pick-up which boosts the powers of the character Again, I assume we will be using the most specific applicable category. Does this tree sound good? -- 17:48, January 4, 2014 (UTC) :Sounds good. -- 19:33, January 4, 2014 (UTC) ::ASJFKWELAJFLWAEKJFWALKF WNOBODY STOP EDIT CONFLICTS ALL THAT HARD WORK FOR NOTHING ::Maybe...I predict there will be some conflicts and the definitions may require some refining. Food, for instance, I consider a pickup because it contributes immediately towards mega burp ammo, but food itself is not used in any way. However, weapons themselves are not present in Nitrome Must Die; they must be picked up in crates. The crates are the pickup, but the weapon is the item. It could be a little more complex. ::I'm not sure if the category tree works in the same way it does for interactive objects to hazards etc. because the way I see it, an item can be a pickup, but their two differences contrast with each other. Unlike the concept of all hazards being interactive objects, not all items are pickups. 19:42, January 4, 2014 (UTC) :::I'm not sure I understand this. The examples you gave can be applied the category tree perfectly well. Did you notice that pick-ups are not under the item branch? Both categories (items and pick-ups) are equal sublevels under a higher level (perhaps Objects). That means food from Fat Cat would be sorted under pick-ups (they boost the burp-meter instantaneously), crates would be under pick-ups (they grant the weapon instantaneously), while guns would be items (they can be used at any time). In the case of a pick-up granting the character an item, well, in that case the two would probably have separate articles. -- 03:42, January 5, 2014 (UTC)